The CAA is part of an officiating alliance with the ACC, Big East and A-10 announced Tuesday. (Mike Spencer/StarNews)

The Colonial Athletic Association is part of a men’s basketball officiating alliance announced Tuesday that includes the ACC, Big East and Atlantic 10. It essentially loops the Big East into an existing relationship between the other three conferences with the aim of improving recruitment, training, assignment and evaluation of referees.

John Cahill (Big East) and Bryan Kersey (ACC) will manage the alliance, including the assignment of games. Kersey takes over his post this season for John Clougherty, who was previously coordinator of officials for the ACC, A-10 and CAA. The Big East had traditionally been independent in handling its officials.

John Swofford of the ACC called it “a win-win-win-win” during a call with the four conference commissioners Tuesday.

“I think we all certainly know that as a result of today’s announcement the game of college of basketball, the institutions of our four conferences, the coaches, the officials and most importantly our student-athletes stand to benefit from the implementation of this collaborative initiative,” CAA commissioner Joe D’Antonio said. “This is a positive step in the right direction as it relates to men’s basketball officiating, and we’re privileged and honored to be a part of it.”

A couple notable points related to the CAA:

** The entire pool of officials will be available to everybody meaning the CAA can/will benefit if it sticks with playing conference games on Thursdays. UNCW often ended up with ACC crews for its Thursday games last season. The quality for the midweek games should increase with Big East officials available, too.

** The conferences are in charge of evaluating officials for their games. Then Cahill and Kersey can use them and provide appropriate feedback. So a referee’s performance in a CAA game — positive or negative — can have an effect on future ACC assignments.

** The hope is this arrangement can spur development of the next wave of referees. Guys who traditionally end up with CAA and A-10 games on busy Saturdays know they can work their way up to ACC and Big East games by doing a good job. This would hopefully be good news for the refs and for the teams across the board. That pipeline can ensure a good future product for the top two conferences and incentive for up-and-coming refs to get in the pool starting out with CAA and A-10 games.

** The commissioners made a big deal on the call of responsible scheduling of officials. The A-10’s Bernadette McGlade said this model can “really make a difference in the quality of life of officials.” They wouldn’t necessarily be doing fewer games. They’d just be making shorter trips between them. More rest, in theory, means better performance. And that can make a difference, especially late in the season. Refs wear down just like players.